I am writing in response to Sopan Deb’s column titled “Athletic Department Needs to Hype Basketball” (Oct. 10, p. 12). Over the past few weeks, I have read as Deb complained his way through various Boston University basketball columns.

His first column of the year droned on about his love for the sport of basketball and how disappointing it is for him to come to a school that doesn’t care. That’s interesting, because as a columnist, Sopan could be spreading the positives of the BU basketball team and the truly loyal, albeit small, fanbase it did in fact generate last year. Deb talks all about how great BU hockey games are and how every freshman, hockey fan or not, should attend the games for the sheer spirit of the contest. I agree. Unfortunately, it is because of the fans like Deb that the men’s basketball team has such lackluster showings: “basketball fans” do not show up to the games!

Now, I hoped Deb was going to step off his soap box and write about an actual sports issue this week, but he chose to attack the Athletic Department for its handling of Midnight Madness. Deb picked out one example of how the basketball festivities have not been promoted by the school: The website doesn’t mention it (on last check, Midnight Madness is the top story on goterriers.com). Yet, Deb neglects to inform the reader that the first thing students have seen upon entering the George Sherman Union over the past three weeks is a large posterboard sign advertising Midnight Madness. But his basketball ignorance does not stop there.

Any true basketball fan would be well aware of the effort The Roof made to generate fan interest last year. They gave away tickets, mascots were sent through dining halls inviting people to games and this year, every freshman received a card detailing Midnight Madness. Deb appears to be two years late in encouraging BU to turn around its basketball team. He also falls under the category of misinformed fan, as he calls the Louisiana State University basketball team only slightly better than ours when describing the school from which our new marketing and promotions coordinator comes. LSU was in the Final Four two years ago.

Now, I’m not looking to pick on Deb. He has simply been brainwashed by an entire group of “basketball fans” that shows no actual support for the basketball team. What I am upset about is that maybe the first Daily Free Press sports column Deb ever read named off 10 reasons why you shouldn’t go see the basketball team. Now, Deb has the power to list 10 reasons why you should go to a basketball game, but he air-balled that shot. The thought that Deb wants the school to have meet-and-greets with the basketball team so we can get to know them is ridiculous. The basketball team is filled with some of the friendliest athletes on campus, as many are my own personal friends. Come to some of the games like the rest of us and you will know all about Tyler Morris’s pure 3-point shot, Scott Brittain’s relentless work in the paint, Marques Johnson’s amazing dribbling and speed, Corey Lowe’s dominant slashing and scoring and Carlos Strong’s ability to bury clutch shots when the game is on the line. True fans know them by watching them on the sidelines. True basketball fans would also know that the basketball team spent the summer winning a tournament in Taiwan, and they will compete on ESPN in the “BracketBusters” series which showcases teams they believe will be on the “bubble” to make it to the NCAA tournament. This is the only real way Deb and his converted-hockey-fan cohorts will find out about our basketball team.

So enough hating on the school and the basketball team. The players made it to the America East semifinals last year and are poised to do much bigger things this year. The school handed out flyers before games and tickets once people got there — the fans simply did not show. Why not write a column offering a solution to our school’s real problem: a basketball-apathetic student-body team that Sopan Deb seems to be captaining.

Colton Bozigian

COM ’09